


The Fallen Stars

by LouieRambles



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fae & Fairies, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Original Character(s), Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 11:05:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18619369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouieRambles/pseuds/LouieRambles
Summary: DeepWater Prompt: If you are hiding in the fae lands, you must never, never, never take off your mask, or even admit you are wearing one.Someone should have told her that this would happen.





	The Fallen Stars

Cordelia ran. Her legs, unused to the land after so many years in the lake and its surrounding waters, tangled together, throwing her to the ground. Tree branches reached for her, tearing at her silken robes, and relentlessly carving into her arms and bared legs.  Her blood ran red down her limbs, rivers of a deception that had been uncovered. The earth, as dark as her skin and unforgiving, held her in place as it tried to drag her down into it's depths.

Forcing herself from it's grasp, Cordelia stumbled to her feet and ran.

The rain, once her friend, threatened to blind her as she panted. When it realised that it's attempt was useless, it turned it's attention to the earth beneath her. Working together, against her, the two managed to bring her to her knees yet again. The strings of her mask, already loose from her moment of weakness, snapped as she fell. 

The delicate covering fell to the ground and broke apart, a parallel to the life that she was leaving behind. The life that she was leaving behind and  _had_ left behind, for the sake of her own.

The winds howled in her ears, around her head and at her back, disorienting her, filling her senses, panicking her as it chilled her to the bone, nipping at her like hounds at her feet. It brought the sound of the throng to her ears, panicking her further.

She tried to stand, but the earth held her tight, unwilling to release its prisoner. As she struggled, it opened it's mouth and released its residents. 

Worms and centipedes and maggots crawled up from the softened soil and onto her body. They trailed over the broken pieces of her mask, crept in between her fingers, dragged their bellies through her wounds and slithered into her clothes and hair, disgusting her endlessly.

She hadn't even known that such vile creatures existed, in the Faerie. 

Struggling, Cordelia freed one leg first, then the other. She didn't stop to throw the vile insects from her skin, despite how much she wished to do so. Instead, she ran.

As she fled, she looked up at the sky. Once blue and welcoming, it was now dark and tempestuous. The clouds hung low, and lower still. Lower than she'd ever seen them. She couldn't afford to dwell on this mystery, however. If she did, then the carrion birds that wove patterns in the tumult would be given the meal that they were eagerly anticipating. 

Panting, Cordelia pushed on. Her long plaits thumped against her thighs and she pounded along rocky paths that had been lush with greenery when she'd first arrived. But now, as the path slowly narrowed and she neared the narrow bridge that would lead her to safety, they were bare, and rife with swarms of writhing worms and snakes. Large spiders lurked at the edges of the road, a silent promise of what would befall her, should she try to seek respite in between the inexorable trees. 

Cordelia shuddered, and pressed herself even harder, desperately hoping to arrive at the bridge soon. The bridge, which crossed over a deep chasm, would make her flight much easier. Carved by nature, the bridge was made entirely from stone, and offered no hiding places for the insects on the path. It also promised a swift death for even the fae, should they dare to cross it too hurriedly. It would protect her, even against its own desires.

As she neared the bridge, Cordelia looked up, and screamed.

The clouds were hanging close to her head now, and were lowering their faces even more. They were aiming to cloud her path and make her lose her way upon the bridge, she realised. And to lose her way upon the cold, wet stone of the bridge would spell certain doom for her.

She couldn't afford that. Not now, when she was so close to the end.

Stumbling a little, she threw herself forward, and onto the bridge. Her feet threatened to slide over the edges of the bridge as she ran. She could feel the stone's discontentment as she hurriedly stepped on its many faces in her bid to cross. But, unable to thwart her on its own, it had no choice but to let her pass. 

The clouds, finally low enough, covered the path, and Cordelia slipped. Her hands scrabbled to find purchase on the slick stones as she went over. Finding none, she closed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate.

She never should have allowed him to remove her mask. Admitting to him that she wore one, had been a big enough risk to take. But she'd been foolish enough to allow him to see her face beneath. And now, look what her actions had cost her; she'd been chased out of the place where she'd sought refuge from her home, and had been cast off by the very land that she'd worked so hard to become one with. And her lover, the one who'd promised her the stars and the moon, had abandoned her.

Tears rising as she fell, Cordelia opened her eyes and her arms, hoping to be allowed to see the sky that had welcomed her, and to embrace the waters that had cradled her, for the last time. 

The sight that met her however, was not a blue sky, nor even an overcast one. The sight that met her was one of falling rocks, showering down from the bridge as a large root ripped through it. Of lateral roots being produced at an alarming rate and scale. Of one of those roots reaching for her, menacingly quickly.

Smiling, Cordelia stretched her arms out in front of her, offering her embrace to the root.

It wrapped around her body gently, abruptly stopping her fall. Her back threatened to break, but the root, already used to this type of play, begrudgingly spread its thick hairs across her back and the back of her neck, saving her from further harm. Once she was secured, the root lifted her, bearing her up, to the other side of the land.

Once she was safely on the on the ground, Cordelia looked back, chest swelling with solace. Through the dissipating cloud cover, she could see fae lights floating, searching, angry. She heaved a sigh of relief, and turned to the one that had saved her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and cradled her head in the crook of his shoulder. He returned her embrace, sighing into her hair. She could feel his feet beneath her, slowly becoming warm and smooth as he rescinded his powers, severing his connection with the nature.

"I thought you that you would not come," she admitted. It grieved her to say it, but she had doubted her love. Had doubted his love. She felt him shift.

"I did too," he conceded, after a few moments in silence. One of his hands moved to toy with her hair, and he sighed again. "I apologise. Tis my fault that you were found out."

Cordelia smiled, and raised her head to look at him. Her smile faded as she took in his face. The cut above his brow that bled blue, running lines down his beautiful face. Bruises that hid in the brown of his skin shyly blossoming, the longer she looked. One of his beautiful green eyes was hidden, concealed within the swell of the surrounding skin.

She winced. 

The fae weren't fond of wanton violence. But once they were inclined to it, they were ruthless animals.

"My precious Abungu," Cordelia cooed, placing her hands on his face, "what did they do to you, my love?"

Abungu looked away. "Tis not safe for you here now, my light," he murmured. He took her hands in his as he began to walk away. "I've blocked all the paths leading here, but they'll not last. Especially once your secret gets out."

He led her to an old tree, surrounded by brambles. As they neared, the brambles parted, revealing a knot of swirling stars in it's trunk. The grass around the base stretched towards them as they neared, and clung to them as they passed. 

A body, pinned to the ground by a root through its heart, was revealed briefly as they passed. Cordelia tried not to look at the bright blue blood on the chest of the woman that she once thought of as a friend.

Instead, she looked at the back of her lover. She kept her eyes on his back as they neared the trees, brushing their way through grass that had been stained blue with the blood of the fallen fae. 

Her every step felt like leaden weights were tied around her ankles. 

She'd come through here, once, a long time ago, when hounds had actually nipped at her heels. When stones and arrows had chased her until well into the night, each one trailed by a curse against her and her name.

She stood, atop the body of an unknown fae. "I can't go back by myself, love. They'd kill me."

Abungu stopped his procession, and looked back at her. "You'll be dead by the morrow, if you stay," he warned. His green eyes glowed bright, worry burning brightly within their depths.

"So will you; they'll have branded you a traitor!"

Abungu stared at her, and Cordelia stared back at him. Slowly, he raised his arm, and flowering vines twined around it. As she watched, they darkened, becoming hard wood. Her love smiled, and struck his arm with a spear that he'd ripped from a body beneath him. The spear shattered, leaving her love unscarred.

"I can fend for myself, my light."

Cordelia frowned, and touched her hand to his forehead, which still bled. "The hardest tree can be worn down with time," she pleaded. "Come with me, please love!" She began walking again, tugging him along this time.

As they stepped through the portal, Cordelia caught sight of the spear, heading straight for them.


End file.
